In this guide, we break down three ways to record a Zoom meeting and explore which options give your team recordings people will actually use. Each approach serves different needs, so choosing the right one depends on how your team works.
Zoom has built-in recording that works on desktop, web, and mobile. If you have a Zoom account, you can start recording immediately.
Zoom offers two recording methods with different tradeoffs.
Cloud recording saves to Zoom's servers. It requires a paid license and administrator enablement. Recordings appear in the web portal after processing, making them easy to share via link. The tradeoffs include storage limits (10GB per Pro license), processing delays (30 minutes to several hours), and a 150-file generation limit per session.
Local recording saves to your computer's hard drive. It works on free accounts with host permissions and provides immediate access. You get unlimited storage (limited only by your hard drive), but you'll need to share files manually.
When to use cloud recording:
When to use local recording:
Cloud recording requires account-level configuration before hosts can use it. Sign into the Zoom web portal at zoom.us, navigate to Account Management, then Account Settings. In the Recording tab, enable cloud recording.
Key settings to configure:
Lock critical settings at the account level for consistent compliance. For organizations with multiple departments, consider group-level policies with different retention periods based on meeting sensitivity.
Cloud recording:
Processing takes 30-60 minutes for short recordings, longer for extended sessions. Access recordings via the Zoom web portal under Recordings.
Local recording:
Zoom creates a folder containing an MP4 video file, an M4A audio file, and a TXT transcript if enabled.
Native Zoom recording captures video, audio, shared screens, and meeting chat. When enabled, automatic transcription creates a searchable text version. You can play, pause, and scrub through the timeline. Recordings count against your OneDrive or SharePoint storage and auto-delete after 180 days by default.
Zoom also offers AI Companion, which provides meeting summaries and smart chapters for paid accounts. Free users get limited access to AI Companion features, with full capabilities reserved for paid tiers.
Native recording captures content but leaves gaps for distributed teams:
Consider native recording when your team is small and has a few meetings per month. For distributed teams with 10+ people across time zones, or organizations recording multiple meetings daily, native recording creates a new problem: accumulating hours of video that people don't have time to watch.
AI meeting assistants like Read AI capture meetings and help you catch up in minutes rather than hours. Instead of scrubbing through recordings, the AI assistant provides you with written summaries, extracted action items, and searchable meeting intelligence and a personal knowledge graph.
AI assistants address the core problem with native recording: finding information later. Instead of watching hours of recordings or messaging colleagues, you can ask: "What decisions were made about the Q4 launch timeline?" The assistant returns the relevant segment and summarizes key points.
AI assistants are valuable for teams dealing with:
While Zoom's AI Companion offers meeting summaries, standalone AI assistants like Read AI provide deeper capabilities including cross-platform search, proactive briefings, and integration with your broader workflow across emails, messages, and documents.
As a Zoom Essential App, Read AI captures Zoom meetings via a visible meeting bot or ambient recording from your device (desktop app). Premium features are included for Zoom One Pro, Business, and Business Plus subscribers. Setup is simple:
Read AI maintains security and privacy with SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, and HIPAA compliance.
Read AI generates meeting reports including full transcription with speaker identification, AI-extracted summaries, action items with ownership, and topic-based chapters for navigation.
Beyond individual meetings, Read AI builds a personal knowledge graph that connects your Zoom calls to emails, messages, documents, and connected platforms. This cross-platform intelligence is unique to Read AI. Most meeting tools only work with their own recordings. Read AI connects information across channels so you see the complete story.
Additional features that help distributed teams include:
Read AI integrates with 20+ platforms, including Zoom, Teams, Meet, Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Google Drive, and Notion. Setup takes less than 5 minutes and saves 20 hours per month.
Bot-free tools record meetings without appearing as a visible participant. They capture audio and video from your device rather than joining as a meeting bot. Read AI's desktop app offers bot-free recording with built-in consent language. However, participants should still be notified that the conversation is being recorded, regardless of the recording method.
Bot-free recording is useful when:
Recording compliance varies by jurisdiction, but you must comply with the most restrictive law across all participants' locations.
One-party consent states (39 states): Only one person needs to consent. If you're recording, your consent is sufficient.
Two-party consent states (11 states): Everyone must consent before recording begins. These states are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Violations can result in civil liability and criminal penalties.
Which law applies? When participants are in different states, the most restrictive law governs. If you're in a one-party state but one participant is in California, you need everyone's consent.
International considerations: GDPR applies to EU participants regardless of where your organization is based. This requires clear privacy notices and consent mechanisms.
Always get explicit consent from everyone, especially in business contexts. Even in one-party consent states, disclosure builds trust and avoids legal gray areas.
Advance notice: Include recording disclosure in meeting invitations.
Beginning-of-meeting disclosure: Announce verbally: “I'm using an AI assistant to record this meeting and take notes. If you prefer not to be recorded, you can opt out”
For internal meetings: Establish standing consent in employment agreements with a meeting-start notice.
Platform indicators: Zoom's built-in recording indicator provides continuous awareness but doesn't replace verbal disclosure.
Choose AI assistants like Read AI when:
Choose native Zoom recording when:
Choose bot-free tools when:
Recording meetings creates a new challenge when hours of video accumulate that nobody has time to watch. For distributed teams, the value comes from recordings that turn into searchable, actionable information.
Native Zoom recording provides the foundation: capture audio, video, and transcription. AI assistants like Read AI extend capabilities by connecting meetings, emails, messages, and documents into a personal knowledge graph, making every decision searchable.
Try Read AI and turn your Zoom recordings into searchable intelligence.
There are three options for recording Zoom meetings:
Native cloud recordings appear in Zoom's web portal; Read AI generates meeting reports within minutes.
If you can’t record a Zoom meeting, it could be because:
Contact IT or ask the host to grant recording rights.
Yes, if the host grants permission. The host clicks Participants, hovers over your name, selects More, and clicks "Allow Record." Some organizations allow all participants to record by default.
Yes, using local recording. Free accounts support local recording when you're the host. Cloud recording requires a paid license. Local recording provides the same quality, though you'll share files manually rather than via Zoom's sharing links.
Yes. They operate independently. Some organizations run both for redundancy or to obtain the raw recording (Zoom) and the AI-processed output (Read AI) separately.
Disclaimer: Software tools evolve quickly. Features described here reflect capabilities at time of writing. Verify current feature sets on each vendor's website before making decisions.
© 2025 Read AI, Inc.
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